Kissed By a Rose
by BreathOfMidnightAir
Summary: Jaudia OneShot. AU What would have happened if Jason and Claudia had actually followed through with the marriage? What if their marriage of convenience turned into something more?


**Disclaimer- I do not own General Hospital or any of its characters.**

Claudia Morgan entered the Zacchara mansion, ready to stand up for herself to her father. She and Jason had been out of town for four months immediately following their 'marriage of convenience'. At the moment, no one besides Claudia and Jason knew anything about this marriage.

They were thought to be away on business…Claudia in Italy and Jason in California. The truth was that they were both in Italy and while there, things happened that neither Jason nor Claudia had ever expected. This marriage had spiraled into something more. Their chemistry had revealed itself, and the outcome was going to stun the hell out of Port Charles.

It was now time for Claudia to inform her father about this. She had a small hand-gun strapped to her right ankle, just in case. She walked swiftly into the sitting room, her eyes falling upon the skinny, frail-looking older man in the wheel chair… also known as Anthony Zacchara.

"Back from Italy already, Claudia? I had hoped you would stay longer. Forever would have been nice."

She took this as his way of greeting her. She moved on with the conversation and leaned down to look at her father. "Remember how you wanted me to marry Sonny so he can carry on the Zacchara Organization?"

Anthony nodded with suspicion. "Yeah."

Claudia raised her left hand, revealing a wedding ring.

"You actually did it? Well, Claudia, you're not as disobedient as I thought you were."

Claudia smirked at his assumption. "No, Daddy. I didn't marry Sonny. I'm married to Jason."

A hard slap rammed into her cheek before she could continue. Anthony was steaming.

"You little bitch! How dare you go against my order!"

Claudia gently rubbed her stinging red cheek before continuing. "See Daddy, the best part is that you can't do a damn thing about it."

"You're really crazy if you think that. I'm sure Jason will come around after I have a little chat with him. Or better yet, I could just get both of you killed and solve all my problems." He stated very calmly with hints of sadism marking his words.

Claudia moved down to his eye-level and sent him a terrifyingly deadly glare. Her dark eyes pierced his; her words were spoken in a dangerously low tone, but with so much confidence that she was unable to be doubted. "You're not going to lay another one of your bony fingers on me or Jason, old man. And if you try, you're going to find your wheelchair heading off the side of the pier with no one to even wave goodbye."

"You wouldn't do that." Anthony was smiling now. "Not if you don't want to get sent to jail for murder."

"You know me. I can make it look like an accident." Claudia smirked at him as she left the house.

She opened her car door and climbed inside, taking one more moment to touch her cheek and examine it in the mirror of the car. A bright red handprint was imprinted onto her skin.

-----

Claudia stormed down the hallway, stopping at her and Jason's apartment. She unlocked the door and pushed herself inside.

"How'd it go?" Jason looked up and took in her apparent anger, then he noticed her cheek.

Claudia's only response to Jason's question was to point at her face. He rose from his seat, pulling her into a much-needed embrace. Her fist coiled in her rage for her father.

Jason watched and felt her body language…Claudia was extremely tense and absolutely furious.

"That's it. I've had enough of my damn father."

The brunette crossed the room and opened the closet which held Jason's weapons. She put her hand-gun back, but continued to look through the closet's contents.

"Are you sure you want to do this? There are going to be consequences."

"Says the king of all cover-ups. Come on, Jase, we can get away with it. I can't see anyone in town complaining if my father's dead. Hell, they're liable to throw us a party." Claudia slammed the door shut, empty-handed. "He's going to come after us, you know. My father's pissed off, and you and I both know what measures he'll go to."

"Calm down." Jason grabbed her shoulders to keep her still.

"How the hell can I calm down?! That—"

She was cut off by Jason capturing her lips in a long kiss. Claudia's kiss, in response, was searing and intense. She was clearly channeling her anger and her stress.

Claudia pushed against Jason, causing him to fall back onto the couch. She climbed on top of him and wrapped her legs around him, leaning into his body. His strong, solid arms came around behind her and held her firmly. It never ceased to amaze her how gentle he could be.

He reached a hand out and his fingertips gently grazed her cheek that had been struck. Leaning forward, his lips followed the same path and she felt herself melt in his embrace as she returned the kiss. Jason felt her start to slow down. Claudia turned her body, taking a seat on Jason's lap and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Remember back when we didn't even want to touch each other? Or when I tried to feed you soup for that Asian-virus-thing and you didn't trust me enough to eat it?" She smirked at the memories.

"Yeah, I remember." He hadn't really thought of those days lately, and remembering them made him feel the complete irony of their situation.

Claudia never thought she would be in this position. After her 'childhood', she had vowed to never allow herself to fall in love…she considered it a major weakness which could potentially leave her broken, beaten, and dead, much like her mother and Johnny's mother. It had taken a while for her to realize that this was not the case with every guy…Jason had proved that to her.

She leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to his. Familiar electricity came between them as the kiss gradually got more passionate. Jason felt her start to rise to her feet. Before she could get anywhere, however, he scooped Claudia into his arms, carrying her up the stairs and into the bedroom. She smiled against him, and soon found herself being placed gently onto the mattress.

Within minutes they were both comfortably settled in the bed. Before Jason kissed her again, Claudia spoke to him softly.

"Thank you for trusting me."

Her brown eyes connected with his blue ones. His lips touched her neck, immediately causing ripples of pleasure. They then allowed instinct to follow through from there.


End file.
